Citrus Show: Usc Vs. Auburn

November 17, 1986|By Larry Guest of The Sentinel Staff

A bridesmaid in the chase for the Miami-Penn State national title game, the Florida Citrus Bowl rebounded to piece together an attractive alternative Sunday, landing tradition-rich Southern Cal (7-2) against Auburn University (8-2) for the bowl's Jan. 1 noon matchup in Orlando.

The marriage that will be the first meeting in history for the 13th-ranked USC Trojans and eighth-ranked Auburn Tigers emerged from a frenzied day of negotiations as the nation's post-season college games jockeyed for the best pairings to announce formally Saturday. Bowl bids officially may not be extended until Nov. 22, but most of the matchups fell into place Sunday with oral commitments.

The big winner remains the fast-rising Fiesta Bowl, which landed the unbeaten Miami-Penn State game, expected to be moved to prime-time Jan. 2 if Miami does not exercise its ''escape clause'' and stay home to play Nebraska on New Year's night. The Hurricanes would bow out only if Penn State is upended by Pitt in the Nittany Lions' season finale and Nebraska defeats Oklahoma to win the Big Eight host berth in the Orange Bowl.

Big losers behind Sunday's closed doors were the new Hall of Fame Bowl in Tampa, obstinate Alabama Coach Ray Perkins and a spiteful Orange Bowl committee that authored that UM escape clause partially to keep the Hurricanes from taking the big game to tourism rival Orlando.

The Hall of Fame Bowl committee, dominated by Florida Gators' loyalists, allowed too much of its Orange and Blue skirts to show in recent weeks and was unable to mend fences with Florida State after Florida (5-5) was eliminated by Kentucky on Saturday.

Needing a state school to assure a large gate, the Tampa bowl turned to the Seminoles too late to keep FSU from shaking hands with the Dec. 31 All- American Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. That bowl had been courting FSU for several weeks. FSU, 6-3-1 following a 49-13 thrashing of Southern Miss, will close the season Nov. 29 against Florida, then meet Indiana (6-4) in the bowl staged in Birmingham's mammoth Legion Field.

The Hall of Fame Bowl turned to Georgia (7-3) vs. Boston College (7-3) for its inaugural game on Dec. 23.

Bowl sources say Perkins damaged Alabama's bowl position by rejecting a three-bowl, three-team SEC package attempted Sunday by the Sugar, Citrus and Sun bowls. Under the proposal, after the Sugar took its SEC host team -- LSU or Alabama -- the Citrus could choose between the reject and Auburn. The Sun Bowl would take the remaining team.

Reportedly, Perkins tried to bully the Citrus Bowl into committing to Alabama regardless of the outcome of the Alabama-Auburn game. Such a deal would be untenable for the Citrus Bowl, because it would provide no acceptable backup team in the event Alabama landed in the Sugar.

Unable to make the three-way deal, the Citrus opted to take Auburn unconditionally, because the Tigers have the same overall record as Alabama but mathematically are eliminated from the Sugar.

The Citrus Bowl relationship with the Auburn program and Tigers Coach Pat Dye has been a healthy one, building on Auburn's successful appearance in the game against Boston College four years ago.

The Orange Bowl stumbled over that Hurricane escape clause, which was arranged in part by Orange committeemen to encourage UM not to play the anticipated title game in Orlando, sources said. But the clause proved to be a complication that cost the Orange Bowl its expected at-large invitee out of the Big Ten. Late Saturday, Orange Bowl reps boasted they would have the Big Ten runner-up -- Michigan (9-1) or Ohio State (9-2) to play the Big Eight champ, Oklahoma (9-1) or Nebraska (9-1).

Ohio State, however, balked at the conditional arrangement because the Miami ''escape clause'' could mean the Buckeyes might be shuffled out of a $2.4 million Orange payoff to a $1.1 million Fiesta payoff.

Like the Florida Citrus, the Fiesta put together a special $2.4 million payday that would apply only to the Miami-Penn State title showdown. Late Sunday afternoon, Ohio State Athletic Director Rick Bay convinced Michigan to send the loser of their game to the Cotton Bowl and its no-strings-attached $2.5 million payday.

Rejected, the Orange Bowl went scrambling for an alternative, but found that commitments by Southern Cal and Auburn to the Citrus Bowl negated possible package deals with the Pac-10 and SEC. Finally, the Orange Bowl settled on the less-attractive Southwest Conference runner-up -- Texas A&M or Arkansas -- an option the Citrus Bowl had declined earlier in the day.

The Citrus Bowl selection committee broke into applause and cheers Sunday afternoon when the USC-Auburn match was assured.

Executive Director Chuck Rohe, who emphasized that all pairings are informal at this point, expressed confidence in the all-important TV ratings that the intersectional Citrus matchup could produce for ABC.

Inconsistent at midseason, Southern Cal has developed into a tough, defensive team. Auburn's attack features running back Brent Fullwood, a St. Cloud native often compared favorably to former Auburn Heisman winner Bo Jackson.